Amid Apartheid, from the 1950s to the late 1970s as if the laws enacted by the Apartheid government were not oppressive enough to the non-white citizens of the Union of South Africa, the government decided to pass the Bantu Education Act 47 of 1953, this was systematic oppression at its best as this act legalized a segregated educational system. This Act came as a recommendation from the Eiselen Commission headed by W.W.M Eiselen. The purpose of this commission was to analyze as well as provide exhortation regarding the education system of the black South Africans during Apartheid. The Bantu Education 47 of 1953 was meant to include the education of the “natives or Bantustans” in the Union of South Africa’s Socioeconomic plan.
One aspect of the Act was to make Afrikaans one of the compulsory languages of instruction ingovernment schools that were meant for young black South Africans. To be clear, the Apartheid government was enforcing that children be taught in a language that was unfamiliar to them as they were of African descent. The reasons why this was done could not be clearer, it was a way to oppress the minds of the African youth by stopping them from elevating themselves with the weapon of education. The architect of apartheid, Mr. Hendricks Verwoerd was once quoted saying, “There is no place for the Bantu in the European community above the level of certain forms of labor…. what is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice?” This only confirms that the African youth were seen as a threat by the Apartheid government of the Union of South Africa, because instead of empowering them by the Act, it was used to further oppress them, not allowing them to learn and make something out of themselves in terms of bettering their lives.
The 1976 youth of South Africa did not take this laying down, instead of being a flock of sheep as the government expected them to be, the youth decided to fight for what was rightfully theirs, their education. In retaliation, they planned peaceful demonstrations in their town of Soweto. A notable person who played a role in the retaliation of the Bantu Education Act was Steve Biko, He was a person who believed more in the youth as in one of the SASO Communique for 1969, he stated that “…. Especially now that students appear to be a power to be reckoned with in this country”, He inspired this act of activism/advocacy by the 1976 youth of South Africa. Through his student organizations, SASM and SASO his ideologies reached high school students to have the spirit of activism, fighting for what they believed in another organization that inspired the youth to fight was Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness, which was more of a movement than an organization, Black Consciousness did a great job in affirming self-worth as well as it boosted the self-esteem for young black people of South Africa during Apartheid as it reinforced the idea that Black people should have pride in their blackness, that although the government was doing everything in their power to suppress the minds of the black youth, their freedom was worth fighting for.
This is an extract from an academic paper by Livhuwani Malelelo, an upcoming academic researcher in African Developmental Studies. If you would be interested to read the full paper, please click on the link below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jH-N5lMFeyZvF3NWh1NwNH0ZMxuh4xLV/view?usp=drive_link